Bolzano September 29 th 2006: Bilingualism in The Netherlands Jacomine Nortier Utrecht Institute of Linguistics

Topics in this paper The Netherlands – demography Political developments Linguistic practices of Turks and Moroccans in NL Mother tongue/Community language teaching: rise and fall

The Netherlands North-South: 300 km East-West: 150 km 16 million inhabitants Capital: Amsterdam, almost 1 million (Rotterdam: 600,000; Den Haag 400,000; Utrecht: 275,000)

The Netherlands (cont.): 1.7 million non-Western 320,000 Moroccan (= 2%) 365,000 Turkish (= 2.28%) 330,000 Surinamese (=2.06%) 130,000 Antillean 392,000 Indonesian

Major cities: more than 50% of school population is non-native Dutch

Reason for migration: Surinamese, Antillean, Indonesian: post-colonial. Antillean: most recent. Turks, Moroccans: came as guest workers in the sixties, chain migration

Important recent history: May 6 th 2002: Pim Fortuyn killed: he was the voice of the white Dutch ‘anti-immigrants- movement’. Became a hero after his death. 2 weeks later: elections. Nov 2 nd, 2004: Theo van Gogh killed by Moroccan muslim fundamentalist Mohammed B. Discussion about ‘freedom of speech’. Mohammed B: member of ‘Hofstadgroep’: Moroccan fundamentalists who planned assaults. At the same time: problems with Moroccans, mainly teenage boys. Marginalization. Increasing fundamentalism. Consequences for society: strong polarisation; immigrant = muslim = dangerous.

Politics in 2006 The “Rotterdam-code”: Pim Fortuyn-city One of the new rules: Dutch is our common language in public Minister Verdonk (integration) in January 2006: whole country  protest. Last week: wish everyone would speak Dutch everywhere (cauliflower in stead of chickpeas) She is the most popular minister

Linguistic practices of two groups: Turkish: strong vitality, high status. In- group orientation. 2 nd generation: Turkish and D/T CS is unmarked in- group language. Moroccans: L1s (Berber and Moroccan Arabic) have low status. Main shared value: islam. 2 nd generation: Dutch is unmarked. Mix with others.

Linguistic practices of two groups (cont.): Newspapers: Turks read Turkish papers Moroccans don’t read Moroccan papers. Not available Both: Internet and satellite-tv

Websites (‘Ethno-Portalen’) (Androutsopoulos) Turkish: Lokum. nl Turskestudent.nl Moroccan: Maroc.nl Maghreb.nl Amazigh.nl

Turkish websites: Serious Turkish and Dutch All possible topics Culture: not specific islam

Moroccan websites: Islam plays a role in many topics Culture = Islam Main language: Dutch. Arabic mostly in formulaic expressions. Berber: identity construction Fun and jokes; play with language: gataarlijk (gataar = dangerous Ar.; gevaarlijk = dangerous Nl)

Typical on a Moroccan website: Je bent nog mooier dan onze remra7 gezien vanuit onze sta7 bij het krieken van de sba7. (You are even prettier than our court yard seen from our roof at the dawn of morning )

Community Language Teaching OET(C): Onderwijs Eigen Taal (en Cultuur) ‘Education Own Language (and Culture)’ Since late sixties Government took over responsibility 1974: official

Original goals of OET(C) Maintenance of contact with original country and language Remigration: easier to (re-)enter school Help newly arrived L1 speakers to integrate in Dutch school system

How was it organized? Large groups: 2.5 during school hours and 2.5 hours outside Small groups: 5 hours outside school hours Voluntary basis Poor material; from country of origin

Late seventies: Stay in NL turned out to be permanent Later: OETC not a goal in itself anymore, but a means to achieve other goals, such as - a- avoid identity problems of ‘foreign’ children; - b- integration into Dutch society - c- bridge gap between home/school - d- increase selfrespect to get better results

Difference with early years: In the early years, OETC was in the interest of the minority group. Later: integration in minority group was considered undesirable; development of individual children; Dutch society From 1991: OETC  OET; support learning of DSL

2004: the end Position of OET-teachers: bad Schools wished to pay more attention to DSL Sociopolitical climate: don’t give ‘them’ a chance to segregate

2006: Moroccans have gone back to the mosques to learn Arabic. Opposite of what the gvt. did in the seventies.

And further? Small initiatives. Turks: language classes Some municipalities: language schools; not only for children who learn their group’s L1, also adults. Other Ls as well. Political interest and will is lacking, most political parties have other priorities. Not ‘hip’

Conclusion: Bilingualism in The Netherlands …

we love it!

But only when one language is Dutch and the other English…